President Barack Obama is expected to rein in spying on foreign leaders and is considering restricting National Security Agency access to Americans' phone records, according to people familiar with a White House review of the government's surveillance programs.

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama is expected to rein in spying on foreign leaders and is considering restricting National Security Agency access to Americans' phone records, according to people familiar with a White House review of the government's surveillance programs.

Obama could unveil his highly anticipated decisions as early as next week. On Thursday, the president met with congressional leaders at the White House to discuss the review, while White House staff planned to meet with privacy advocates. Representatives from tech companies are meeting with White House staff on Friday.

The White House says Obama is still collecting information before making final decisions.

Among the changes Obama is expected to announce is more oversight of the National Intelligence Priorities Framework, a classified document that ranks U.S. intelligence-gathering priorities and is used to make decisions on scrutiny of foreign leaders. A presidential review board has recommended increasing the number of policy officials who help establish those priorities, and that could result in limits on surveillance of allies.

Documents released by former National Security Agency systems analyst Edward Snowden revealed that the U.S. was monitoring the communications of several friendly foreign leaders, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel. The revelations outraged Merkel as well as other leaders, and U.S. officials say the disclosures have damaged Obama's relations around the world.

The president also is said to be considering one of the review board's most aggressive recommendations, a proposal to strip the NSA of its ability to store telephone records from millions of Americans and instead have phone companies or a third party hold the records. The NSA would be able to access the records only by obtaining separate court approval for each search, though exceptions could be made in the case of a national security emergency.

It's unclear whether Obama will ultimately back the proposal or how quickly it could be carried out if he does.

A House Intelligence Committee member, Rep. Peter King, R-NY, said he believes the surveillance changes under consideration go too far. But he said if Obama does decide to transfer U.S. phone metadata to a third party, he would work to salvage what he could of the program.

"It would be a question of the lesser of two evils," King said. "If by doing that, it protects the program or preserves it, I would do it, even though I don't think these reforms are necessary."

That White House review followed disclosures from Snowden, who leaked details of several secret government programs. He faces espionage charges in the U.S. but has been granted temporary asylum in Russia.

On Thursday, the senior lawmakers on the House Intelligence Committee said a classified Pentagon report showed that Snowden stole approximately 1.7 million intelligence files. Most of those documents concern current military operations and could potentially jeopardize U.S. troops overseas, according to Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., and Rep. C.A. "Dutch" Ruppersberger, D-Md.

Before making his final decisions, the president is supposed to receive a separate report from a semi-independent commission known as the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, which was created by Congress. However, that panel's report has been delayed without explanation until at least late January, meaning it won't reach the president until after he makes his decisions public.

Members of that oversight board met with Obama on Wednesday and have briefed other administration officials on some of their preliminary findings. In a statement, the five-member panel said its meeting with the president focused on the NSA phone collection program and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, which oversees the data sweeps.

Popular Comments

"The president also is said to be considering one of the review board's
most aggressive recommendations, a proposal to strip the NSA of its ability to
store telephone records from millions of Americans...The NSA would be able to
access the
More..

6:51 p.m. Jan. 9, 2014

Top comment

Happy Valley Heretic

Orem, UT

Sorry David, bush and cheney gave that right away to save us from terrorist. And you supported the terrorists if you didn't agree.And the
constitution is just a piece of paper.

Welcome to the digital age of
wire tapping.

9:59 a.m. Jan. 10, 2014

Top comment

Northern

Logan, UT

Correct me if I'm wrong, but they already are acting illegally. Just let
loose the Logan police on them, safest city in the country.